GREENVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 9, 2019) --Jeromy Rodriguez (Santiago, Dominican Republic) was the only bright spot for the Buccaneers on Saturday.

The ETSU junior forward tied a career-high with 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, but Furman scored 50 second-half points and connected on 12 three-pointers en route to defeating the Bucs 91-61 in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,500 fans inside Timmons Arena.

For the game Furman shot 64 percent (32-50), went 12-of-18 from beyond the arc and 15-of-18 at the free throw line, compared to ETSU finishing 47 percent (24-51), 2-of-14 from three and 11-of-16 at the charity stripe. The Paladins scored 27 points of 16 Buccaneer turnovers, while the Bucs lost the battle in the paint, 38-36.

The Bucs suffered their second straight loss and moved to 19-7, 9-4, while Furman won its fourth in a row and improved to 20-5, 9-4.

Coming off a hard-fought affair on Thursday night against league-leading Wofford, the Bucs took a 17-15 lead at the 11:51 mark of the first half; however, things quickly shifted.

Over the next seven minutes, Furman went a 20-5 run to go ahead, 35-22, with 4:26 left before the break. The Blue and Gold looked to have gained some momentum as they scored the last four points, including a steal and score from guard Patrick Good (Johnson City, Tenn.) to close out the stanza and make it a nine-point game, 41-32.

ETSU extended its run to 8-0 at the start of the second half to pull within five, 41-36, but the Bucs were unable to do further damage.

With Furman leading 49-43, the Paladins blitzed the Bucs with a 25-8 run to go ahead by 23, 74-51, while they eventually led by as many as 34 in the closing minutes of the contest.

Matt Rafferty led the Paladins with 19 points and five assists, while Andrew Brown came off the bench to shoot a perfect 6-of-6 (5-for-5 from three) and total 17 points.

The Bucs return home Thursday night to host The Citadel at 7 p.m. inside Freedom Hall.

For complete information on ETSU men’s basketball, follow the program via social media on Twitter (@ETSU_MBB) and Instagram (@etsubasketball).

For more information on Buccaneer men’s basketball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s basketball link.